Inside The Bills

The Buffalo Bills Alumni Association is a dedicated group and naturally had a special bond with the now late former play-by-play radio broadcaster for the Bills Van Miller. They released a statement in the wake of Miller’s passing late last week. Here is their statement in its entirety.

WE REMEMBER VAN MILLER

Our community was saddened to learn of the recent passing of a true Western New York icon, Van Miller.

The Buffalo Bills Alumni enjoyed a very special and personal relationship with Van. We felt that he was one of us. He was Buffalo Bills football.

The term “Legend”, is the first word that comes to mind when thinking about our dear friend, Van Miller. Not only was Van a broadcasting legend, but even more importantly he was a legend as a human being. Anyone who ever had the pleasure of meeting Van, knows how his wonderful sense of humor always had a way of making you feel so comfortable when talking to him.

As a member of the Buffalo Bills in the 1960’s, I can remember how quickly Van became such an integral part of Buffalo Bills football.

He will forever be remembered by Bills players and fans as the greatest play-by-play man in Buffalo sports history. His distinct voice and memorable sayings like “Fasten your seatbelts” and “Fandemonium,” will forever echo in the laurels of Bills football. His calls in some of the greatest games in Bills history will be played over and over again as long as there are the Buffalo Bills. Van Miller was without peers!

On behalf of the Buffalo Bills Alumni Chapter, our deepest and most heartfelt condolences go out to his beautiful wife Gloria and their family. Van Miller was truly one of the most beloved persons of our time and he will be sorely missed by everyone.

A handful of current Bills players and a couple of Bills alumni will be working the phones on Sunday afternoon at the Variety Club telethon at the Adam’s Mark in downtown Buffalo.

Dwan Edwards, Alex Carrington, Mike Jasper, Alumni Bob Dugan and Will Fowler, Billy Buffalo and the Buffalo Jills are all scheduled to be in attendance between 3 and 4 pm. The telethon will air on Channel 7 with the players answering phone calls and accepting pledges.

This is the 50th annual Telethon for Variety –The Children’s Charity of Buffalo & Western New York which is the longest locally produced Telethon in the world, and the 49th for Channel 7. All monies raised by the Variety Kids Telethon benefit The Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, Robert Warner M.D. Center For Children With Special Needs and many other local charities benefiting children that Variety serves.

In addition to helping wounded warriors resume their athletic pursuits with their charitable effots, the Bills alumni also have offered assistance to local wounded servicemen and servicewomen back from Iraq and Afghanistan by helping them network with businesses in Western New York.

“Our funds will not only support the athletic pursuits, but more generally some scholarships because there are guys that are coming back from the wars and they want to better themselves with a college education to get jobs in society,” said Alumni President Booker Edgerson.

“We’ve put them in touch with people around here,” said alumnus Ed Rutkowski. “Some of them need jobs and we as the Bills Alumni have been asked to help so we help them network with some business contacts that we have locally.”

During Bills Alumni Weekend, 15 Pro Football Hall of Famers visited Buffalo to help support the Buffalo Bills Alumni Foundation. Now, a limited number of “The Legends of the Gridiron” collector’s edition framed posters have been made available through the Buffalo Bills Alumni Foundation.

Originally sold for $300, the special discounted price of $199 is being offered until supplies last. For 15 Hall of Fame signatures, this is quite an impressive piece and all proceeds from the sale of these one-of-a-kind posters go to the Buffalo Bills Alumni Foundation.

Bills fans can purchase the posters by calling JRC Promotions at 716-694-7867. Here’s an example.

The Bills Alumni Association has put together one heck of an event that fans will want to attend this weekend.

The Bills Alumni will be bringing the hallowed halls of Canton to Western New York as they salute the Legends of the NFL at the 2010 edition of their Annual Weekend of Events from Sept. 11-13.

In addition to numerous Buffalo Bills alumni, sixteen members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be honored and recognized at the three-day alumni weekend.

On Sat., Sept. 11, the Bills Alumni will host a ‘Legends of the NFL’ VIP Gala at the Seneca Niagara Events Center in Niagara Falls, NY. On Sun., Sept. 12, the Legends of the NFL VIP Tailgate Party will take place at Ralph Wilson Stadium followed by the Bills vs. Miami home opener. The finale on Mon., Sept. 13 is the Annual Celebrity Charity Golf Classic which will be held at the new Robert Trent Jones, II designed, $25 million Seneca Hickory Stick Golf Club in Lewiston, NY.

“This is going to be one of the most exciting weekend of events we have ever had”, said Booker Edgerson Bills, Alumni president. “I don’t believe that Western New York has ever seen sixteen Pro Football Hall of Famers at one event. It will be awesome.”

The Buffalo Bills Alumni Weekend of Events is the foundation’s marquee fundraiser as proceeds from monies raised from the weekend go directly to support numerous local charities. The Bills Alumni Foundation has donated over one million dollars over the past several years.

This once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in this weekend and rub shoulders with these members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is open to the general public. For ticket information on all these days, including the golf tournament, contact JRC Promotions at 716-694-7867. Sponsorship opportunities are also still available.

The Bills Alumni Association has put together one heck of an event that fans will want to attend.

The Bills Alumni will be bringing the hallowed halls of Canton to Western New York as they salute the Legends of the NFL at the 2010 edition of their Annual Weekend of Events from Sept. 11-13.

In addition to numerous Buffalo Bills alumni, sixteen members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame will be honored and recognized at the three-day alumni weekend.

On Sat., Sept. 11, the Bills Alumni will host a ‘Legends of the NFL’ VIP Gala at the Seneca Niagara Events Center in Niagara Falls, NY. On Sun., Sept. 12, the Legends of the NFL VIP Tailgate Party will take place at Ralph Wilson Stadium followed by the Bills vs. Miami home opener. The finale on Mon., Sept. 13 is the Annual Celebrity Charity Golf Classic which will be held at the new Robert Trent Jones, II designed, $25 million Seneca Hickory Stick Golf Club in Lewiston, NY.

“This is going to be one of the most exciting weekend of events we have ever had”, said Booker Edgerson Bills, Alumni president. “I don’t believe that Western New York has ever seen sixteen Pro Football Hall of Famers at one event. It will be awesome.”

The Buffalo Bills Alumni Weekend of Events is the foundation’s marquee fundraiser as proceeds from monies raised from the weekend go directly to support numerous local charities. The Bills Alumni Foundation has donated over one million dollars over the past several years.

This once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in this weekend and rub shoulders with these members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is open to the general public. For ticket information on all these days, including the golf tournament, contact JRC Promotions at 716-694-7867. Sponsorship opportunities are also still available.

The Bills Alumni Association in conjunction with the Professional Athletes Foundation and the NFLPA will be presenting a pair of Scholar Athlete scholarships to two Buffalo city school students this afternoon (Friday).

The two scholar athletes, Shannon McDonald from City Honors and Steven Tarasek from Hutch Tech, will be presented their $ 2,500 Scholarship Award by Buffalo School Superintendent Dr. James Williams and Buffalo Bills Alumni President Booker Edgerson, along with other Bills Alumni members at a ceremony to be held in City Hall at 2 pm.

The Professional Athletes Foundation believes that student athletes should be recognized for their academic achievement and should be encouraged to pursue career goals beyond athletics. The Professional Athletes Foundation supports scholarships for a high school student-athlete who lives in a city that has a National Football League Retired Players Chapter.

Members of the Buffalo Bills Alumni Chapter will be out in full force in support of one of their own who is battling heart and kidney disease.

A special fundraiser for former Buffalo Bills FB, Wayne Patrick will be a part of a Spring Collectors Show to be held on Sunday, Feb. 21, from 10 am to 4 pm at the Hearthstone Manor, 333 Dick Road in Depew, NY. Admission/Donation is $3.00 and all kids are FREE.

The 63- year old former Bills fullback has been battling heart and kidney diseases and has accumulated medical expenses that far exceed his health and medical coverage for such treatments of his diseases.

Wayne Patrick, who was originally drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, signed as a free agent with the Bills in 1968. The big fullback was the first blocking back for O J Simpson. Patrick played for five seasons with the Bills, then went to the Boston Patriots and finished his pro football career in the World Football League.

Following his playing days, Patrick came back to Western New York where he raised his family. He worked at Delphi – Harrison in Lockport for 27- years until he retired. Wayne and his wife Mary reside in Amherst and have four children and two grandchildren.

To show their support for their fellow Bills Alumnus, several of the former Bills players will be on hand at the Sports Collectible Show to sign autographs for a fee of with all the proceeds from the autograph signing going directly to help defray the costs of Wayne Patrick’s medical expenses.